A study of the relationship between trace element Mo and gastric cancer

AIM:To study the relationship between trace element Mo and gastric cancer.MATERIALS AND METHODS: Soil samples were collected according to its type in different areas of Jiangxi Province; available molybdenum content in soil was measured by catalytic polarography and rank correlation method was used to analyse correlation between the mean of soil available molybdenum and mortality rate of gastric cancer in each county and city in Jiangxi Province. Gastric cancer cases were selected from the authors' hospital, occiput hair was collected to measure its molybdenum content with an atomic absorption spectrograph and controls were selected from the same hospital for comparison. Gastric cancer cases were selected from three hospitals at the same time, blood samples were taken on an empty stomach and serum molybdenum contents were measured with the atomic absorption spectrograph, and controls were selected from the same hospitals. Blind method was used in the whole course (chemical analysts did not know the source and nature of samples).RESULTS: A negative correlation existed between soil available molybdenum content and mortality rate of gastric cancer (r = -0.285, P < 0.05); hair molybdenum contents of gastric cancer cases were lower than those of healthy controls (0.308&mgr;g/g plus minus 0.673&mgr;g/g and 0.707&mgr;g/g plus minus 0.561&mgr;g/g respectively, P < 0.01); serum molybdenum contents of patients were also lower than those of healthy controls (21.84&mgr;g/L plus minus 7.49&mgr;g/L and 25.38&mgr;g/L plus minus 8.58&mgr;g/L respectively,P< 0.05).CONCLUSION: Deficiency of molybdenum may be one of the risk factors in gastric cancer.